Workload!!! No matter what

Two ladies were having a conversation in the office pantry(where we have aquaguard, coffee machines)

Lady 1 (L1) : I don’t like this location. Workload is too much
Lady 2(L2): Yeah!!! Park5 was much better.

L1: So many people are leaving the company, its making our load even more
L2: 3 people from our team left last week.

L1: But one of them was caught stealing, who asked him to steal.
L2: that’s true…

And they went on for a few minutes regarding their work load, then the house keeping ladies went on with the description.

L1: I am the only one who has Garbage cleaning work this week, I think I will ask for easy mop.
L2: I have hand pain since yesterday, I don’t want easy mop
L1: Ok.. then I will take easy mop, you take the garbage cleaning
L2: No, that’s very boring…

I could have heard further, but my bottle was full and it was time for me to go back to my desk.

I was just trying to compare their conversation with what we have

Person 1(P1): I don’t like this project. Workload is too much.
Person 2 (P2): Yeah!!! My previous project was much better.

P1: The attrition rate in the company is too much.
P2: So many from our team have quit in the last month.

P1: I think one of them was taken off due to disciplinary action taken against him
P2: hmm…

P1: I am just fed up of this maintenance project. I think I’ll ask for a project change
P2: I am bored of testing too. I think I’ll ask for prod support for a few days.

Conversation continues…

I couldn’t help but smile thinking about how similar our way of thinking and environments are even though the kind of work we do is totally different.

Full Circle

“I don’t want to leave my friends mamma”. Anu was telling this to her mother since morning. “We don’t have an option Anu; daddy has to leave to Bangalore. We can’t leave him alone. Can we? ” Radhika tried convincing her daughter. Anu went to her room sulking.

“Daddy, why do we have to leave now? Can’t we atleast leave after my summer vacation?” Anu was asking for the nth time that day. Satish answered very patiently, that they would come back someday just to meet her friends. Anu wasn’t convinced, but she had no option to get into the cab, which would drop them to the airport. Her best friend Ramya, had come with her dad to see off Anu. Both were hoping against hope, that Anu would stay back. Since, that did not happen, they exchanged their address and promised to write to each other.

It was 6 months, since they reached Bangalore. Anu had new friends here. The memories of the old city had started to fade out. Radhika was happy that her daughter had stopped whining about moving to Bangalore. She then realized that life was a full circle. 10 years back, when she got married to Satish, she had to move out of Bangalore. And today life had brought her back to the place where she started. She like Anu, had got new friends in the new city, in the process, she lost touch with her old buddies. And those were the times where communication was not so easy. Today, when she came back to Bangalore, she dint know what her old buddies were upto.

Radhika was busy shopping and she spotted a lady, who looked very familiar. The lady also happened to be staring at her. In a few minutes, she was gone. Radhika was trying to recollect who she was. On the way home, she passed by a coffee shop. That was once a hangout place during her college, she realized all of a sudden, the lady she saw earlier was one of her best buddies. When she got married, they had promised each other that they will stay in touch. Today, when they saw each other it was just a faint familiar face.

At home, Anu was playing with the gift Ramya had given her, Radhika was having tea and thinking about her past. She realized, all her old friends were nothing more than strangers now. She decided she will try to find out the phone number of her friends and try to rekindle the friendship they had. Just when she got up to do something about it, she thought she has to do something else.

She got a notepad and a pen to Anu, she also had an envelope with Ramya’s address on it. She told Anu “Don’t you want to tell Ramya, how much fun you are having with the gift she gave you. I think you should thank her for this”.

Anu smiled and said “Oh yes mamma! I almost forgot to write to her. Can I ask her to come over to Bangalore when she has holidays?”

“Definitely dear” Radhika said and walked towards the phone, to get back to her past.

Huff!! Puff!!

Suresh knew his dad wouldnt be coming back home until 6.00 PM. He had 2 more hours. The offer his friends gave him was good. After all it would take him just a few minutes. "Few minutes, few puffs, your dad wont know" is what one of his friends' said.

They stood in the corner of the road, near the pan shop. All of them had one each in their hand. They were very busy creating circles in the air. Just then, Avinash signaled to Suresh, his dad’s cab was taking a turn. All of them threw their cigarettes down and blew it off. Suresh, was confused, how his dad came home early that day. He was hoping, his dad hadn’t seen him smoking. He went for a round with his friends, reached home after half an hour. His dad was sipping the hot filter coffee and snacks which his mom had prepared.

Suresh tried to escape his dad’s eyes and was about to snoop into his room when his dad called him.

Dad – Suresh, I don’t like you to waste my money. Infact, I don’t like any of the guys wasting their father’s money

Suresh – Sorry Dad

Dad – Here, these are the cigarette buds you guys threw, after spotting me. I have got them back to you.

Suresh (puzzled look)

Dad – When you earn, you can waste your money. This is the money I have given for your books and studies, but if you want to use it for smoking, utilize it correctly. Please don’t waste the cigarette.

Saying this, Dad placed the newspaper with the half burnt cigarette buds on the table and went to his room.

Suresh could see the disappointment in his dad’s eyes. He promised himself, he would never let his dad feel so bad, ever again.

Security!!!

This incident probably happened a month back. I have been so busy these days, no time to blog.

Anyway, we went to see a movie in PVR Gold Class. As we entered, we had to go through the routine securtiy check. Then we made ourselves comfortable, in the lounge, a guy came with our welcome drink. As we were having it, we realized a movie star also entered. The people there were ready with a bouqet. What amazed me was, she was allowed inside without any securtiy check. And the guys who came with her, did not have to go through the security check.

I asked the guy who served us the drink, what if these people had a bomb with them. He just smiled at me, embaressed and with a "What Can I do?" expression.

But isnt this a serious threat. Sometimes people do anything for money. If you are harassing common people for security checks etc, why are the rich and famous not made to go through the same ordeal?

Why these double standards? What kind of security is this?

FMS

This happened during one of my trips during Engineering. We were about to have lunch (lemon rice and curd rice – packed from a caterer). It was in those paper packets, no fancy packing, no spoons.

All of us sat in a group. Since we were tired of playing around, as soon as we got the food, we started digging our hands and filled our mouths and started chewing. One friend of mine, opened the packet and was just staring at the food. I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t even touched it. This was the conversation we had.

Me : Hey S, are you not hungry?
S : Very much
Me: Is something wrong with the food?
S: I don’t know. I haven’t tasted it yet.
Me: You don’t like rice?
S: I like rice, esp curd rice.
Me: Ok. Then what’s stopping you from eating the food.
S: Can I get a spoon?
Me: Emm.. I don’t think we have spoons. We have anyway washed our hands, why don’t you just eat without the spoon.
S: I can’t
Me: Look S, where are we going to find a spoon for you in the middle of the forest. Come on, go ahead and start eating.
S: I know, but I can’t
Me: Why?
S: I don’t know how to eat rice, without a spoon.
Me: You mean you have never had rice using your hand.
S: yup.
Me: You mean, never, ever?
S: yup
Me: Ok.. This is a situation. No problem. I will teach you to eat using FMS.
S: FMS?
Me: Flexible Mobile Spoon :) Our palm and fingers
S: ok.. lets try
Me: See the incentive is you get to eat your favorite – Curd rice.

After a few minutes, S could manage to eat using his FMS and thanked me a ton, for helping him and not letting him starve.

Benadryl!!!

Usually medicines are always taken with a disgusting expression. Medicines are supposed to be bitter. But when we have cough, there is one sweet medicine, which even acts like a sleeping pill and makes it so difficult for you to wake up in the morning. Its as if you have a hangover. I am not a alcoholic person, but then can I say for sure? Am I 100% non-alcoholic.

Ofcourse I don’t drink beer, whiskey or the likes, but that doesn’t rule me out from not having alcohol at all. Its not in the recent times. Since childhood, all of us have had some taste of alcohol, or we have liked it in some or the other way.

When I was kid, it seems when the coughs were unbearable, doctors used to prescribe – “Doctor’s Brandy”. This is supposed to be very good for the cough, and is seemed provided good relief.
And now, its benedryl. It sure is very tasty and effective too. One shot of this, oops I meant one sip of this, and you can be assured of a cough free deep sleep.

Incidents related to bendryl;

We were in mysore, and since I had cough my friend insisted we get benedryl. In a week the whole bottle was over. The reason was, my friend also had a sip of it everyday, inspite of she not being sick. I tease her of being a alcoholic. Till date, we laugh about this. Infact, even yday we discussed on how tasty benedryl is :)

I had come back from US and had jet lag, then got cough here. I started taking benedryl, I used to sleep at 11.30 and till 7 in the morning, I would noteven be conscious (deep sleep you see). I wondered how my jet lag vanished so quickly. After I stopped the medicine, I used to be awake like an owl, or even if I slept, I used to wake up a couple of times. I cursed benedryl for curing my cough.

Few months back, I was suffering from dry cough. We had a bottle of benedryl, I drink my sip and then my husband says, Its been ages since I have had a drink and gulps a little bit. Result is past 1 week, our eyes struggle to open even if its 7.00 AM. Now I have got used to this, and our plans of going for a walk a 6.00 seems like a dream.

Hail Benadryl!!!

Snakes

Our house was next to the GKVK forest in Bangalore. There were lot of eucalyptus trees and the forest was pretty dense. Whenever they cut down these trees, lot of snakes came out of the forest to our area. We could hear lot of snake stories. Infact, when I would come back from college, mom would have a snake story ready. That was one of the reasons, why everybody had a mesh door in front of the usual wooden door, so that they could keep that open for the air circulation.
One day, both the doors were open, and when mom came out, she saw a big, fat snake, resting under the table in our verandah. It seems my parents called the snake catcher, and with great difficulty, they got this out.

One of my neighbors had left the water sump (tank) door open to get something from inside. By the time she came back, there was snake which had fallen inside the sump. When I came back from college mom told me this, and I went to see the snake. That was probably the longest snake I had seen other than snake parks or zoo. Then they had to call people and get the snake out. They also got the whole water sump (tank) cleaned up.

I haven’t seen that many snakes as much my mom or my brother have seen. But I did encounter a snake story once. Let’s say I was just saved.

It was on a weekend, my cousin brothers had come home for lunch. Usually my elder brother is fond of pulling my leg. He kept on teasing how I would believe anything he would say when I was kid. This had gone for a couple of hours, after which I gave him a warning that I would never ever believe whatever he said. As they were about to leave, we all went outside to see them off. My cousin was near the gate and I was near the door. We have a big garden, so he just happened to see something and shouted at me to move. I dint move an inch. He again shouted saying there was a snake, and asked me to move. This time I was determined it was a prank, I dint move. My other cousin saw this and pulled me, and the green snake just jumped. It would have hit my eye, if my cousin hadn’t pulled me. We were in a shock for a few minutes, and later I kept teasing my cousin, that his pranks would have cost me my life, if not for my other cousin. Till date, we remember that incident and laugh about it now, but it was pretty scary when it actually happened.

Even today, I am not scared of seeing snakes, but if its gonna attack me, I can scream like crazy and run around like a mad woman to save myself. By God’s grace, I have never encountered a situation like that except for the instance I mentioned above.

Power Cuts!!!

Summer is associated with many things – Heat, Sweat, Cotton Clothes, Mangoes, Juice, Cold water, Vacation (for kids), First rain and with rain comes power cuts.

It’s so stuffy inside the house during summer. We still manage to watch our favorite TV programs with the help of Fans or for luxurious ones, we have ACs. Sometime around 6.30, when there is either a cartoon or a movie coming up, mom is just done preparing some yummy snack, there is a power cut.
Instantly, people in the house scream “Oh no” or “Che” or “S**T” etc in chorus. Probably if you can listen carefully, this happens in all the houses in the neighborhood simultaneously. Everybody starts fanning themselves with the palms, or they grab the day’s newspaper. After a few minutes when the heat is unbearable, one by one they open the front doors and go out near the gate. Slowly, the kids in the neighborhood come out and start playing; the aunties come out with a cup of coffee in their hands. They start of with the conversation

Lady 1: There is so much of power cut these days
Lady 2: Yeah, it’s too hot and stuffy inside
Lady 3: I haven’t finished my cooking. I needed the mixer, now god knows when the power will be back
Lady 4: (showing off) I thought such a thing would happen, so I finished cooking beforehand
Lady 5: I just came back from office and now there is no power, this is unbearable.

All this while, they don’t realize that they are actually socializing, instead of sitting in front of the TV, which hogs all the attention most of the time.

Give them 5 minutes, and then a different set of conversation starts and this time it’s interesting. They are either talking about the corner house, where new tenants moved in or it is about Savithri’s daughter coming late to the house on a bike with a guy or discussion of a new recipe.

The men folk might just prefer to stand near the gates and watch people walking up and down. Very few actually socialize, when they do, its either politics or sports that they catch up on. Not very juicy to overhear what they are talking about.

The kids get together with their tricycles and bicycles and start going up and down the street as if they are chasing a thief. If there is enough light, they would even gets the bat and ball, to start with the gully cricket.

When this hustle bustle is going on, there is a bulb flickering somewhere, signaling that the time for gossip and time pass is getting over. In a few minutes, the road is lit up again. The houses have their tube lights flashing. Everybody, now comfortable in their chat, start back home, with a content of having a nice time during the Power Cut.

SubWAY

I had been a year since I joined the comapany, when I heard a Lady say, the food in subway is really good. I knew she had been to US, so she was talking about Subway over there.

Background : Subway meant those underground crossings which we have where pedestrians are not allowed to cross the road. Ofcourse in Bangalore they have these hawkers selling pety stuff over there, so I assumed she meant the food she got there was good. I thought, lucky people, they get good food even in subways, all we get here is peanuts/cut guava/ or something which doesn’t look very healthy enough for us to eat.

I never discussed this with anyone to clarify, what subway food was all about. Few months later, I was in US and one of my friends suggested we go to “Subway”. I was thrilled, and wanted to see, what it was all about. Off he drove and stopped in front of a sandwich shop, which was called “SUBWAY”. The conversation was like this:

Me: Here?
Him : Yeah… this is Subway
Me: Oh (laughing at myself)
Him: It’s ok right? Or you want to go to Indian restaurant
Me: Its fine… I can try it out.

The first time I dint know what to order. I couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about. Bread and few veggies, so why go ga-ga over it. I dint go to subway for a long time after that.

Later, on a trip, one of my friends showed me that we could add sauces to it, have it with veggie patty etc etc. I started loving the sweet onion suace, slowly mustard. They even started with a broccoli cheddar soup. I liked that too…

Today when I was ordering in subway, when I asked for sweet onion, southwest, spicy mustard and I saw so many people in the queue (esp new to the corp world).. I wondered, when I was like them, I dint even know what this thing was… How things have changed!!!

Also, now I know Subway is just not the underbridge, but it’s a food chain.

PS: Hey the train system in New York is also called Subway… So if there was a Subway within Subway.. how would you say it?

Great Achievement

The project was due in a week and all his project mates had completed their part. Mayank was the only one, who was to finish his part of the project.
Though all his project mates were his friends, the anxiety if Mayank would finish his part was straining their friendship. He was so engrossed in what he was doing, that his mom was to remind him multiple times, so that he could have his meals on time.

The model would be evaluated by a panel of 3 people.

Mayank had spent days on the design. It had been days since he met his friends. Anytime, his mom came to his room with food, he would drive her away. At times, she would scold him, that his health would be spoilt, if he dint eat properly. He dint understand, how his friends implemented it so easily, while he was struggling to put everything together. The day before the project was to be submitted, Mayank finally completed the project. He informed his friends, and they were relieved too. Finally, Mayank and his friends submitted the project on time. They had to wait till the evening for the evaluation. All the worries which surrounded Mayank for all these days had come to an end. There were smiles of relief in his group. At 5.00 PMthe principal came out with both the science teachers. They were the panel of judges. Mayank and his group had won the science project competition at school.

For Class VII students, it was a great achievement that day

Autowallas

There was a discussion on how autowallas in different metros behave. This just reminded me of a particular incident which happened in Hyderabad. This was more than 2 years back.

On Monday morning, I reach Hyderabad bus stand. As soon as you get down, auto folks start with their bid.
Everytime, just to check, I used ask a few people, how much they would charge. Are you people thinking about meters. Come on 6.30 in the morning, who would use it. Meters don’t start their work until 8.00 AM

Near the bus the rate would be – 200
By the time you reach the entrance of the busstop, the rate would be reduced to as low at 150-120

After a few weekends, I found another way. I would go midway in auto, from there would take a bus to my place. The reason was, I dint know which bus to take from the busstand.

One fine day, when I was looking out for an auto, found another girl who was looking for one, to the same area. So we decided we could share the cost. One guy agreed for Rs.70, we thought Rs.35 is a fair deal and got in. Once we reached the place, we gave him 70 and he started shouting at us, saying its 70 per head. We told him that he never told us this, and since it wouldn’t cost that much using meter, we were not going to pay him 140 total. He threatened us that he wouldn’t let us get down. We were pretty aggressive too, and we asked him to drop us back to the busstand, and we wouldn’t pay him a paise for this wonderful behaviour of his. After much argument, he finally left us after charging us Rs.5 extra per head. Next week onwards I was extra careful and confirmed with the driver much ahead about the cost per head.

PS: I know Hyd has shared auto system, but this was not a part of the shared auto thing. Also, I have had auto problems in most the of the places I have visited… So its nothing to do with one place

Credit Market

This incident happened a couple of months back.
I was at my desk, trying to get past the chunk of code, when I heard the extension ring.

Me: Hello
Phone: Hello mam, I am calling from #### bank, we are offering
Me: I am not interested.
Phone: (uninterrupted) you a credit card with
Me: Excuse me!!
Phone: (still uninterrupted) zero percent interest.. blah blah..
Me: (phew!! She is done). Ok, now that you have finished what you have to say. I am not interested.
Phone: Why madam?
Me: Firstly, you don’t have the patience to listen to what I was trying to say. Secondly, I am just not interested.

15 mins later, another ring

Me: Hello
Phone: Hello mam, I am calling from #### bank
Me: I just got a call 15 mins back and I said not interested
Phone: we are offering you a credit card with zero percent interest.. blah blah
Me: Ok.. but I am not interested
Phone: Why mam?
Me: If I need a credit card, I will call you.

15 mins later, another ring

Me: Hello
Phone: Hello mam, I am calling from #### bank
Me: I just got a 2 calls in half an hour and I said not interested
Phone: we are offering you a credit card with zero percent interest.. blah blah
Me: Ok.. but I am not interested
Phone: Why mam?
Me: (Irritated) Why don’t you go and ask the other 2 people who called

After this, I haven’t got any calls from them, but a funny incident happened last week

There were around 6-7 people in the elevator. The phone in the elevator started ringing. After looking at each other’s face, one guy decide to pick the call.

Him: Hello
Phone: ******
Him: (After he kept the receiver back, announced) : #### credit cards

All of us burst out laughing… And this statement just came to my mind

“Credit card Lelo Credit Card..”
“Togolrappo togolli.. free credit card”

Queue or line

On Sunday, we went to Shrek Forever (3D). Wait!! I am not reviewing the movie here... But yes, if you are a Shrek fan, go for it.

Anyway, one of the reasons I love going to movies is, I can eat popcorn. Not that otherwise somebody restricts me, but its fun while watching movies. I was standing in the already formed queue. I saw one guy standing next to the counter with money. He was not in the queue.

Me: Excuse me!! There is a queue here
Him: (Smiling) Oh Sorry!!

And then he came and stood in the queue.

In a minute, another guy came and stood outside the queue just next to the counter.

Me: Excuse me!! There is a queue here
Him: Yeah!! There is a line
Me: Yeah!! So can you please stand in the line?
Him: (Just Grinning and standing there)
Me: I think all of us are in the line or the queue for a reason, I think you should join the line.
Him: (Embarrassed by now) hmm

And then he left the place to stand in the queue or according to him the LINE.

Movies:Raavan:The Karate Kid

Its been raining movies for the past 2 days.
We watched Raavan and the Karate kid
 
These are not reviews, but just my opinions on the 2 movies
 
Raavan:
 
Reading so many bad reviews, should have told us what to expect. So we went to the theatre, mostly to admire the cinematography. And I must say, Santosh Sivan has not at dissappointed us. Only thing I dint like was the rain. It was raining most of the time. If it dint rain, Ash would just jump into the water and get wet. The movie was damp most of the time.
 
There is nothing much to say about the movie. As everybody knows there is a Raavan(evil) in everybody, and there is Ram(Good) in everybody. It just goes to say nobody is perfect. The movie potrays the same feeling.
 
By the end of the movie, you dont know if the Dev Pratap(hero - Vikram) is the good person or Beera(villain - Jr AB) is the good person. You dont know if you should be rooting for the Dev. You dont know if you should sympathise with Beera. Ofcourse thats the intent of the movie. But I all the intents are dampened by Ash's screaming all the time. She is either screaming or crying, or just staring with her red eyes.
 
Vikram was ok ok, nothing great to speak of. I hope he has done a tremondous job in Raavanan.
 
AB - He looks very ugly. I know he is supposed to be like that, but somehow not so appealing. He was better in other movies
 
Ash - Less said the better about the beauty queen. She is screaming most of the times. Ofcourse when her mouth is shut, I wouldnt say elegant, but yes beautful.
 
I liked Govinda and Ravi Kishen, both of them did justice to their roles.
 
Priyamani- Oh yes!! She was there, 3-4 scenes, may be 1 or 2 extra. She was fine.
 
If you really want to watch this, wait for it to come on TV.
 
Its a one time watch.
 
 
The Karate Kid:
 
Jaden Smith is great in the movie. I liked the movie. My husband was quite dissappointed, being a Jackie chan fan, oops die hard fan, he dint get to see too much of action from the action king.
 
Locales are breathtaking. Once again my wish to visit the Great Wall Of china has increased. Ofcourse its there only in a few scenes. There is one place where Mr.Chan takes the kid to. I dont remember the name of the place. But it looks beautiful.
 
As everybody guessed, movie is all about Jackie Chan training the kid. Well when you think of training, its not just about Kung Fu. The way he teaches the kid, really tells you, how you must percieve anything in life.
Determination to learn something is a must, along with certain basic values in life. The movie tells you, however strong you are, if you lack the basic human values, you will never grow up in life.
It tells you how after pushing yoursef to hard, you still need a break to rejuvinate yourself, which can bring out the best in you.
How great friendship is, and what levels it can take you to
How, we need to respect each other.
How different is being calm and doing nothing is.
How by being calm, you can actually control lot of things. Being calm on the inside, you can see things clearly, otherwise anything you see or do appears to be blurr.
And finally, if you fall, you can choose either to brood over it or get up and get over it.
 
Karate is the Japanese Martial Art and Kung Fu is the Chinese Martial Art. I wonder why the movie was named The Karate Kid. There wasnt 1 bit of karate in this (ofcourse I dont know the difference, but hey I know people who know the difference).
 
Even the movie has this dialog - its kung fu not karate.. then why was it named so? Well, I know we cannot get this answer, probably they were trying to bask on the glory of the previous version of the movie.
 
In one sentence, I would say, a Bollywood movie with Kung Fu in it. I dint think it was a waste of money. But, if you wanna go to see Jackie Chan, for his comedy or for his stunts, you might not find much of it.

Notice board

 
Pallavi’s college, had notice boards in each floor of every building. These were the kind which had glass frames. One day, lot of new notices were put up on the board, Pallavi was staring at all these. When she came away from the notice board, her friends asked her, what was put up. She had no clue about it. They had no clue, what she was doing there. They then went up 2 floors, where their classroom was supposed to be. Again, they saw a notice board. This time again Pallavi went and stood in front of it.
 
There was one guy who was staring at Pallavi. Her friends were furious, before they could go and give him a piece of mind, they just turned towards her. She was looking at the notice board, but this time it was weird. They asked Pallavi to leave from there as the guy was staring at her. She couldn’t stop laughing at told her friends the secret.
 
“The guy might be staring at me, may be, coz I was staring at the blank notice board”
 
Her friends went blank, and then she told them about her fascination towards notice boards.
 
Pallavi was fond of mirrors. She loved to see her reflection, anywhere possible. If she happened to walk by a shop with glass windows, and if she could get a glimpse of her reflection, she would stand in front of the shop, like a child in front of the bakery. The onlookers would only feel she was admiring the merchandise inside.
 
 
They finally realized, the mystery behing Pallavi and notice boards.

Halloween

We were on our usual coffee break, in an unusual environment. The entire office was decorated with skulls, masks, RIP boards; in short it looked like a graveyard, with people dressed up as ghosts, witches. You guessed it right, it was Halloween. We were having a nice time in office.
 
Every friends group has 1-2 people who are scared of ghost stories or any such thing. We also had 2 friends like this. Our plan that day was to scare these two. So, coffee break was spent planning this whole thing. Our PM was also in this plan; he was to play a major part.
 
Planning:
 
PM was to wear black jeans, black jacket, black gloves, and SCEAM mask (from Wal-Mart cost: $10)
Another friend was to wear black jeans, a t-shirt which had green glowing skull
We at home, had to have our camera and camcorder ready.
 
Evening 8 PM:
 
One of the victims was sleeping in one room. We had closed the door. The other one was in the kitchen. The other 2 (i.e. me and friend) were busy on phone, atleast acting to be busy. I was on phone with the PM, informing him about the right time.
 
The door bell rang. My friend went into the room to fetch something. I was busy on phone to answer the bell. The victim was forced to answer the door bell. Next thing we hear is her scream. We had recorded the whole thing. Her expression was awesome. For 2 mins, she dint realize the prank. Later, all of us started laughing. We teased about her being scared. But I must say, the mask was pretty scary.
 
8.15 PM:
 
We could hear victim 2 coming out of the room. We sent these 2 guys out again, repeated the trick. This time Victim 2, screamed even harder. It took her more time to realize it was a prank. She was so scared, she dint touch the mask for a long time. We took quite some time to convince her, that it was just a prank.
 
After all this, each one of us wore the black jacket, gloves and mask and did some scary walk. We recorded each of this. Then we plugged these to the TV and had a hearty laugh at all this.
 
It was one of the best days of my life :)

Sarva Guna sampanna

I watching TV yesterday and I happened to see a trailer of some new serial. I don’t remember the channel or new serial name.

The trailer goes like this:

Girl is studying and her mom comes and asks her to stop studying as that wont help her when she gets married, she wants the daughter to stop all that and help her in household chores. Finally the Sarv guna sampanna (one who is bestowed with all knowledge) girl, gets a nice groom.

Now, learning household is totally fine, but why does the girl have to quit education for the same?

How does it make here Sarva Guna Sampanna if she isn’t a literate? No offense to anybody who isn’t a literate, but isn’t that also a kind of knowledge?

This is on national television. What are they trying to show, education is not important for girls?

Learning household chores and getting married based on your performance on this and good looks is the ultimate goal for a girl?

When so many NGO’s, so many people are striving towards Girl Education, why the hell is a TV serial trying to showcase something else, just for TRPs and money?

Cant they come up with something interesting, than such concepts?

It really irks me when such things happen around me. Be it on TV or in reality.

PS: My mom also told me to learn household chores. She also told me if I don’t learn these, what will my in laws say? But she always wanted me to be well educated and if possible and independent person.

Directionless!!!

This was the era, when I-phone had just started to become a common phone. Every other person, wanted to have THE I-phone. What better time to purchase it, than thanksgiving and Christmas (SALE, SALE and SALE) when you are in US.

During Christmas, I was in San Francisco downtown with a couple of friends. We had checked in Google maps for the place we wanted to go, we dint take any print outs though. One of my friends has an i-phone. We left the office around 5.30 PM, and followed the map. After walking a couple of blocks, we thought we were lost, searched for a bus stop. We checked the maps there, and continued walking. Our friend with i-phone was happily clicking our pictures, while the 2 of us were breaking our heads for the direction. All this while we were hoping that we had some GPS which would tell us how to go.

Somehow, after some map reading, and asking people we reached the destination. By this time, we were hungry, and wanted to check if any Indian restaurants were available. At that time, my friend announced “Hey, I can search for the restaurant using i-phone”. We both glared at her and said “All this while we were breaking our heads for directions and you just clicked photos, Couldn’t you search for directions?”

All she could muster to say that time was “Oops!! I forgot that my phone has GPS”

Only reason, she was saved by our beatings that day was, we were in public.

Even today, when we talk to each other, we recollect this incident and laugh at it.

One mischief

“Ragini, what are you doing, Let daddy sleep” called out her mom. Ragini, like an obedient daughter came out of her parent’s room and went to the kitchen to see what her mom was doing.

“Mummy, I want to show you something”, she was pulling her mom’s saree.
“I will come baby, let me finish the chocolate biscuits I am making. Then, all of us can eat this together in the evening.”
Ragini went to her room nodding her head. She got busy with her toys, in a few minutes; she slept with her favorite teddy.

After a while, the bell rang, dad happened to open his eyes at that time. “I will get it” he screamed while mom was busy with the special dish.
Murthy uncle was laughing loudly, when Ragini went out.

“Oh Ragini, you adorable kid. Where was your talent hidden all this while? “ was the question posed to her. She was confused, and disappointed to see dad’s face.

From that day, people would come, touch her cheeks, and say “naughty kid”.
**************************************

15 years later:

The groom hunting was on in Ragini’s household. She heard her parents say, she has always been a naughty kid.

“Few years back, when her dad was sleeping, she silently crept near him and put a rubber band, so that his head had a sprouted fountain, and so much of powder and bindi on the face, making her dad look like a joker.” Mom was telling this story to the prospective groom.

Inside the room Ragini was whispering, “Oh no mom, not again” and then sighed “I do one mischief and it’s stuck to me for life”

Ninantha Appa illa

“Ninantha appa illa…” (there is no father like you) song was on the radio a few days back. That’s when I thought of writing this post.
This made me recollect my relationship with dad.
I have always been closer to mom, regarding anything in life. But, this doesn’t mean dad is of any less importance.

Dad was and is still my alarm clock (when I am at my parent’s house).
In 12th STD, I had taken up the morning class, which used to start at 6.15. My dad used to wake me at 5.30 AM. I would ask for 5 minutes and in those 5 minutes, he would sit on the bed, wait for those 5 minutes and then again wake me up. I would again ask for 5 minutes, but this time, he would wake me up some 5000 times, that I would get irritated and wake up. Then we would leave home at 6, and then he would have to zoom in his scooter to drop me. I would keep yelling, “Fast appa, fast daddy, fast fast fast”. He never lost his patience though, and he would just say, “Why can’t you get up when I come to wake you, the first time” or, “that’s why I told you take the evening batch”. This would happen almost every other day.

During my Engineering days, I once missed my college bus; rather I realized it as soon as I reached the bus stop. My dad was in a Lungi and T-shirt; he drove me to my college which was 30kms from my house in the Bajaj scooter in the same avatar. He still recollects that and tells it to my husband. Even today, he is ready to drive those 30kms to drop me to Infy, if I happen to miss my bus. But I don’t make such a fuss getting up early, so no chance of that.

I have got lot of punishments from mom, but none till date from dad. At his angriest moment, he might have said “you are hopeless”, that’s it. Not a swear word, not even a single hit full of anger.
There was a song which goes like this “Papa ki pari hoon main”. That song just fits my situation. However the movie was, I love that song.

Even now when I go home, he is ready to dance to my tunes, literally. We don’t dance on any music, I just taught him a few moves and I sing and we dance. My mom says, we are crazy, but who cares :)

He was the one who taught me chess and carom; he never lost just cause I would cry, he wanted me to make an effort and win, ofcourse he would play a little easy, but never let me win unless I tried really hard. It’s because of him that I started following sports. We loved watching tennis and cricket together. Ofcourse mom was also interested in those days, so it was family time.

Every evening, I would sit and watch serials with mom and comment simultaneously. After that, I would sit with dad, and both of us would watch movies. Dad dint like movies, mom couldn’t sit through movies. So I would give them company. Ofcourse both of them, would sometimes wonder, if I am watching TV all the time, when do I study :)

There was a time when dad wanted to learn computers. There were times when I would get a little impatient, but then, I remembered the time when he used to teach me Mathematics, and understand what patience actually meant.

I know everybody’s dad is special to them. I also know its Mother’s Day which is nearing. So what?? I feel like writing about Dad today… so Dad, this post is dedicated to you.

PS: The post may not be well composed. But feelings need not be composed all the time :)

Gazab Kasab

Kasab, the moment we see this name, it brings out fury, for he has killed so many people in 26/11 attack. Most of the Indians want him dead. When I say dead, it’s not just hanging him; we want to torture him so much that he has to beg for death. And once we are done discussing the million ways to bring his life to an end, we start blaming Pakistan.

Something goes wrong in some part of India, we blame them. We don’t think twice, it might our greedy politicians, or it might even be frustrated common people.

When we want Kasab dead in the most painful way, what do we need to do to the Indians who were involved with him, helping him?

We blame Pakistan for promoting terrorism; we blame them for training their people to create such situations. But are we not all pure and perfect. Does India not nurture terrorism at all?

Do Indians don’t help people like Kasab to enter our country and kill so many people ruthlessly?

There is a saying in Kannada, am sure there will be similar ones in all the other languages. It goes like this “”, which translates to “There is a hole in every house’s dosa”, this means, we keep trying faults in each other, we never realize there is a fault in us too.

Let’s definitely punish people who do wrong things, lets just not blame others as if we are totally right. If Pakistan is nurturing terrorism and bringing out a new batch frequently, we are no less. We are doing the same thing. If you think about it, they are sending these people to other countries; we are doing the self destruction act.

Neither will Dad

“Wow!!! It’s such a beautiful place. Isn’t it Dad?” asked Sushma, while her dad was busy reading the newspaper. She got a cup of hot coffee for him, the usual in the morning. It did not change today, just because they were on a vacation.

Sushma, got her laptop, wherever she went. She wanted to note any new idea that stuck her. She couldn’t let these idea go away. She was a writer after all. She lived her life with her dad and her characters. When her mother, Latha, was with them, life seemed like a fairytale. Her mom told her so many stories. That’s how Sushma inclination towards writing started. She always wanted to write about her parents’ love story.

“A few girls were on a vacation, to this beautiful hill station. One of them was the blue eyed, Lalitha. She was not very fair, or very tall, but there was something which was prominent in her. You could just feel the warmth when you set your eyes on her.”

The alarm rang. It was time for dad’s breakfast. Sushma, got 2 plates of Semiya Upma and hot coffee. She loved tea, but she drank coffee just so that she could give company to her dad. They always came to their farmhouse for vacation. The three of them had so much fun here.

“Lalitha had finished her final year BA, and all the girls wanted to have one last vacation together. They never knew if they would even meet each other after an year and wanted to make the most of it. Just as the girls were walking around, they came across a beautiful estate. They did not see the “trespassers will be prosecuted” board and went in. The estate manager saw the girls enter and reported it to the owner. Just when the owner came out, his eyes met Lalitha. He was speechless, his anger vanished from the face, and he gestured the girls to come in.”

The bell rang, Sushma did not get up from her chair. Dad tapped her chair twice, but she just did not want to leave her story. Finally, after 3 rings, she went to answer her door. It was her dad’s friend, Ashok. She got him a cup of tea.

“The owner offered the girls coffee and some snacks. He asked them about their background, studies, vacation, duration of stay. He offered to show them around. He then called his youngest son”

Sushma, you really shouldn’t have to got your dad here is what Ashok told her. She had tried a lot, but then dad never agreed to go elsewhere on their vacation.

“It had been 2 years since Lalitha and Sumant got married. They had a beautiful daughter and they just adored her. They were staying in the outhouse of the big estate. Sumant was still the manager in the estate. He loved Lalitha, just as much, since the first time he saw her, when she came there with her friends. He always thought, the owner had good plans to make her his daughter-in-law. The youngest son Deepak, tried his level best to woo her. But destiny had other plans. Everyday, the manager accompanied Deepak and the girls and secretly impressed Lalitha.”

Sushma was called by the cook asking, what they wanted for lunch. Then, she helped dad go back to his room, to get a short nap.

“Deepak, was all set to propose Lalitha. He had gone to the city for a few days to get a beautiful gold ring. Sumant knew about the plan, and decided to propose Lalitha before Deepak came back. The evening before Deepak was supposed to be back, Sumant asked Lalitha to join him for dinner. She secretly wished that he propose to her. Instead of taking her to a fancy restaurant, he invited her home. He had cooked all of her favorite dishes. After some time, Lalitha declared that her stomach was full and she could eat no more. He offered her butterscotch ice cream, as she was eating the ice-cream, she saw a ring in the bowl.”

Sushma, kept her laptop aside. She dint want to continue with the story without her dad’s approval. She went to the room to see if dad was awake. He wasn’t on his bed. She then saw his lying on the easy chair. That was the chair, his mom had got him, so that he could sit in the balcony and relax. She went near him and called out to him. Latha’s photo was on his chest. She could see a tears in the tip of his eyes. He had a smile on his face. His eyes were closed. But he looked content. She shook him a little and his hand dropped down.

Sushma understood, she lived with her dad and her characters. Her characters never spoke to her.. Neither will her Dad.

Sparks!!

Every day, the sparkle at the corner shop, fascinated Anita. She was not sure, if she should share this fascination with anybody. She loved to walk in that road everyday, just to get a glimpse of that sparkle. It was always a mystery for her to know what the sparkle was about.

Anita used to run near the shop and stand to stare at the sparkle. But the shop keeper would drive her away saying it’s not for kids. It was the time she had started reading Enid Blyton books. She sensed some conspiracy, like how it was in her books. She wasn’t sure if her dad would have an answer to this. Also, she was scared her dad might not allow her to go near that shop.

One fine day, she came back from school, and found guys wearing masks and she saw those sparkles. Even though she loved to see those sparkles, she panicked that these guys were doing something to the house. She dint say anything, and silently went to her room. That day, Anita went to bed without dinner. She never made a mention about this to her parents.

Days passed by, it was time for her summer vacation. She went to her grandparents house in a different city. Anita, came back home just a couple of days, before school resumed. In the evening, she went for a walk with her dad, only to find her sparkle shop closed. She observed this for a week, and curiosity had reached a limit. She finally decided to ask her dad about this.

Anita: Dad, why is the sparkle shop closed?

Dad: Sparkle shop? What kind of shop is that?

Anita: The one in the road corner. It’s been closed since I have come back

Dad: Oh that… they have shifted the shop a couple of roads.

Anita thought now is the right moment to ask her dad what they did. So she mustered courage and asked her dad what they do. After all the explanation, Anita asked him, what is such a shop called. He then told her. It’s the WELDING shop

Roadside!!!

I have met very few people who don’t like road side food. But otherwise, 95% of the people I know love it.

Some of them I can think of right now:

Churmuri: with loads of carrots, cucumber, and these days mango pieces, murmura (mandakki or kadlepuri). And now we have so many options with yellow moong (heserbele), tomato puri, nippat (I don’t know what else its called)

JoLaa: the corn which is either boiled or roased on the coal, with some lemon or spicy chutney and many different flavours

Pani puri thelas: The big round puris with aaloo and spicy paani (sweet too) and the final puri where they add chat masala, make it spicy and top it with some lemon.

Masala corn: This is the American corn, which is mixed with different providing different flavours, pepper lemon, chat masala, salt. (it seems American corn has more calories than Indian corn)

The everpresent Chat gaadi: Masala puri, bhel puri, dahi puri, samosa chat, paav bhaji, dabeli, kachori chat… basically spicy stuff which just gives life to the tongue.

Lemon soda: Earlier, we used to have Goli Sodas, in the green bottle, where we would have soda and the shopkeeper would add lemon and salt and give it to us. Now it’s changed, and we have different flavors again – Salt, sweet and salt, jaljeera, ginger and what not

Dosa Camps: How much ever dosas you eat at home, there is nothing to beat the benne masale dose (butter Masala dosa)

Bajjis and Pakodas: Mirchi (mensinkaayi) bajji, Banana(baalekaayi) Bajji, capsicum bajji, onion pakoda, aaloo bonda, ambode (I don’t know what the English counterpart for this is)

Tender coconut: Paper Ganji, where after you are done drinking the water, we can just scrape the thin coconut film. Just sweet coconut water.

Sugarcane juice: Before CaneOLa s came on to our roads, we had those manual machines where the guy would put in the sugarcanes into the crushing machine and rotate the lever manually. Well they old or new, it tastes wonderful

Bakery: Aallo buns, khara buns (spicy), veg puffs and sometimes the hot tea and just baked biscuits (different varieties)

Peanuts: Either boiled or roasted peanuts, which are neatly given in newspapers which are cone shaped

Fruits n Veggies: Cut watermelons, Jackfruit pieces, Cut Guavas with salt and red chilli powder, Cut cucumbers, cut mangoes

PS: Thanks mom for introducing me to most of this. And thanks to G, he also loves all this, so we can enjoy it together

God Sent!!!

Most of the houses, have a small pipe which protrudes from the terrace, so that all that water can be drained. Well, my granny’s house too had one such thing. April, was the time when all cousins would meet. I am the second eldest person in my cousin’s list. I had just one elder brother (A) to look up to for anything. And the amount of trust I had on him was un questionable.

On one such vacation day, it was raining heavily, and water was flowing continuously through that pipe.

This was the conversation we both had.

A: ಈ ನೀರು ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಬರುತೆ ಗೊತ್ತಾ? [Do you know where this water comes from?]

Me: ಎಲ್ಲಿಂದ? [from where?]

A: ಅಷ್ತು ಗೊತಿಲ್ವೇನೇ. ಇದು ದೇವ್ರು ಕಳಿಸಿದ ನೀರು. [You don’t even know this much. This is God sent.]

Me: ಹೌದಾ? [Is it?]

A: ನೀರು ನಿಂತುಹೋಗೋ ಮುಂಚೆ ಕೂಡಿ. [Drink this water, before it stops.]

I was too innocent to realize I was being fooled. And I sincerely, took that water like prasad and drank a handful. Till date, he teases me about this incident, and we have a hearty laugh.

Nangu Beda.. Nimgu Beda!!

I was a kid when I heard this for the first time. Mom was saying this to some shopkeeper. “ನಂಗೂ ಬೇಡ ನಿಂಗೂ ಬೇಡ Rs.45 ಮಾಡ್‌ಕೊಳ್ಲಿ”. (not for me, not for u, lets make it 45) And this was when mom quoted 40 and the shopkeeper quoted 50. It used to be fun going shopping with mom, esp to see her bargaining. As years went by, this just rubbed on to me. Ofcourse, I am yet to master this, and a couple of years in US has surely reduced it. But yes, I cannot just leave it.

Some of the conversations which mom has had.

Location: Saree shop, Malleshwaram

Mom : ನಾವು ಮಕ್ಕಳಿದಾಗ್ಲಿಂದು ನಿಮ್ಮ ಅಂಗಡಿಗೆ ಬರ್‍ತಾದ್ದಿದ್ದು. (we have come to your shop from the time we were children)

SK (shopkeeper) : ಅದು ಸರಿ Madam. ಆದರೆ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಆಗೋಲ್ಲ. (that’s right madam but not its not possible)

Mom: ಏನ್ರೀ ನಿಮ್ಮ ತಂದೆ ಇದ್ದಿದ್ರೆ ಕಡಿಮೆ ಮಾಡ್ಕೋಟಿದ್ರು (if your father was here, he would have surely done it)

SK: ಅವರು ಮಾಡ್ಕೋಟಿದ್ರು Madam. ಆದ್ರೆ ಈಗ ಆಗೋಲ್ಲ. (He would have done it Madam, but now its not possible)

Finally, after 5-10 mins of bargaining, she would actually get the stuff for the price she wanted.

My granny is no less.

Everytime she goes to a saree shop, she says this – ಏನಪ್ಪಾ , ಇಷ್ಟೊಂದು ಸೀರೆ ತೊಗೊಂಡಿದ್ದೀವಿ, ಒಂದು ಬ್ಲೌಸ್ ಪೀಸ್ ಫ್ರೀಯಾಗಿ ಕೊಡಬಾರದ (we have taken so many sarees, can’t you give a blouse piece free)

Or sometimes she says - ವಯ್ಯಸದ ಅಜ್ಜಿ ಬಂದಿದ್ದೀನಿ, ಇಷ್ಟು ಬೆಲೆ ಹೆಳೊದ (old granny is here, you are quoting so much)

It was always fun to go either of them. Best part about it was they would never be rude to the shopkeepers, my granny would even know how many kids that man had by the time she came out of the shop.

And next time either of them visited, they would be welcomed and many a times offered some cool drinks too. Ofcourse as a kid, these were my perks for going along.

Best till date is when mom and bro came to visit me when I was in Hyderabad.

We were in Charminar, it was my wedding time, so mom wanted to do some shopping.

We went to a shop where they sell, beautiful laces, some shiny threads etc. After, selecting mom started her bargaining.

Mom: क्या भय्या इतना बोल रहे हो, तोड़ा कम कीजिए ना (You are asking for this price, reduce this)

SK : नही मेडम जी इससे कम नही होगा. (no madam, cant reduce further)

Mom: अर्रे भय्या मैं Bangalore से आई हून, अगली बार घर में शादी होगी तो आपके दुकान में ही आना है ना? (I have come all the way from Bangalore, next time when there is a wedding, we will come to your shop only right)

SK :ज़रूर आईएगा आपही की दुकान है. लेकिन आप Bangalore से Hyderabad क्यों आओगे (ofcourse, please come. But why will you come from Bangalore to Hyderabad

Mom: मैं तो यहीं पे पैदा हुई थी ( I was born here!!)

Bro and Me: (stunned looks with the expression – what?)

After we came out of the shop, we told mom – all these years we thought you were born in Bangalore:)

Life !!

Its Gen-X era now.

We seem to have broken ourselves from a lot of superstitions. But there are some which we are still holding on to.

Incident which happened recently:

A family is searching for a suitable groom. An alliance comes through some matrimonial agencies. The mother of the groom calls the girl’s parents. Both the moms speak to each other on phone. The prospective groom’s father is no more. After the basic horoscope matching, the guy and his family decide to come home, except his mom. The reason why his mom wouldn’t come is coz she is a widow and since it’s an auspicious occasion, she wouldn’t go and visit the girl, the first time.

Why are we still having such beliefs that a widow would be a bad omen?

Isn’t she the guy’s mom, without her, he wouldn’t even be existing, how can he consider her inauspicious?

Why dint the girls’ parents insist that it’s ok, and that she could come over too?

I know if I ask these questions to MIL or even mom, they are gonna say, You’ve become modern? I am pretty sure, they wouldnt know the reasons either

An old lady, if her husband is alive, is given utmost importance in any ritual as she is Sumangalee (Suhagan in hindi – not a widow). But if another lady of the same age or even elder is a widow, is considered inauspicious.

So a lady’s worth is decided by the existence of her husband?

What kind of a society is this? I am not being feminist here. But, I have a question.

In case the guy’s father was a widower. Would he also get the same treatment? Would he also be barred from certain rituals or gatherings? If they do so, I am not aware of. If it’s done, it is definitely wrong.

Most of this is done by the women themselves.

And to think of Sati system was eradicated, to give the women life after husband’s death, What a Life!!!

Ugly mark for our beautiful future!!!

It was in 2008, when I first got the opportunity to vote. I was not very sure whom to vote for. I thought I will be wasting my vote if I randomly went and voted for somebody. Mom and dad went and cast their vote. It was nearly 4.45PM that day when I made up my mind, ofcourse mom dad helped me, and then we zoomed in the Honda active… We went there and dad easily spotted my name in the list, and that was when I cast MY VOTE for the first time.

The ugly blue mark on the index finger, gave me the sense of pride of being an Indian citizen. If not anything else, I atleast now had the right to complain against bad roads in our area, if the chosen ones didn’t do their work.

Last year, I was in Bengalooru, during the election time. There was an event organized in company too for this. It was a good experience to see 4 politicians on one stage, putting across their thoughts. Well that time again, I did vote and get the ugly blue mark on my index finger. I flaunted it with pride, esp. in front of those who did not vote, only to show them, they did not exercise their right.

Ofcourse, there were 2 people in my family who wanted to vote, but their name was not in the list, for no fault of theirs. My Father-in-Law, had gone to the office to make sure all our names were there, and all our names except his name was in the list. Same thing happened with my brother. He was so disappointed, that would have been the first time for him.

This year again on 28^th March, we had the BBMP elections. We went this time again to vote. There wasn’t any queue, there were hardly 3-4 people. We thought, since we went post lunch, people must have come early, only to realize this morning, only 46% of Bengalooru did the voting.

To all those who took some time off your relaxing Sunday, Kudos to You for doing a great job.

To all those who had all the time and still thought it’s a waste of time to go and vote – Well next time you complain, think of that as a waste of time too. If you were not sure of whom to vote, or if you thought nobody is eligible to be elected, you could still have chosen the option of not voting anybody. By not voting, you wasted one of the rights, where you could choose someone to better your society. The society in which you live.

On a different note, the ugly blue mark this time is on the right index finger. It’s really ugly this time, is spread all over the nail L Well, I went home and applied some nail polish on the nails, it doesn’t look that ugly, except on the skin.

It’s that ugly mark for our beautiful future!!!

Siblings!!

A few days back, I saw a girl today crossing the road along with her younger brother. This just reminded me of school days, when my bro started going to school.

We were in Chennai when he started his LKG. I was in 6th. Our school was just 10mins walk from our house. I insisted that I was a big girl and dint need any of my parents to drop me to school. Our morning timings were the same, and in the afternoon mom would come to pick him up.

My routine was always like this:

Mom would pack lunch for us, I would carry both the lunch bags. As we entered the school, my classroom would come on the way, so I would keep my stuff and then continue to go to my brother’s classroom, keep his lunch bag in his room and say bye to him.

Then during lunch time, after my lunch, I would go to my brother’s classroom just to check if he has eaten. There were times when my brother would wait to see me come near his classroom. He would tell all his friends, his “akka” has come to see him.

As we grew older, different timings, different locations, dint allow us this luxury. But yes, even today we check on each other almost daily. Ofcourse, these days it’s not just about lunch.

Sasural Genda phool

Conversation with a friend:

Friend: so how are things at sasural (in laws)

Me: sasural is fine

Friend: in laws ke saath hi reh rahe ho na

Me: haan. ab unko itni acchi bahu mili hai.. unka to jeevan dhanya hogaya

friend:hahahaha

Friend: yeh unhone bola ya khud hi decide kar liya ???

Me: woh to speechless hogaye hain na..

Me: to kaise bolenge

Friend: hahaha

who says beggars cant be choosers

On Sunday, we went to Najungoodu. Since, it was the weekend just after Shivrarathri, there were lot of people. We dint opt for the special darshan (charged Rs.100). There was also another ticket for Rs.25 and then there was a free darshan. We first wanted to try the free darshan. I would say we were lucky that our darshan was over in 15-20 mins. After the temple, we came to the place where we had left our footwear. After paying him, my husband still had 2-3 rupees left in his hand. We saw lot of beggars, one of them was handicap, so my husband gave him the money.

I was busy putting on my sneakers, so dint pay attention to what he was doing. There came a old lady, who was begging for a long time, she asked my husband for money and he refused. All of a sudden, she turned towards me and started accusing me.

Lady beggar : Ninge yaakamma hotte kicchu aa yappa nange duddu kotre (why are you jealous if this man gives me money)

I was shocked and lifted my head to see why she was telling me this. My husband was equally shocked. He asked me if I said anything to her. I had no idea of what was going on. She was about to move murmuring something else and I still had no idea why I was accused, and why I would be jealous of her. I couldn’t control my anger at this point and said “God has given you hands and limbs. Why don’t you do some hard work and earn something, rather than begging”

My husband then consoled me and asked me to ignore what she said and not to react on such petty things.

But, my argument was I never said anything to that lady, only after she accused me of this, did I say anything to her. Moreover, I told her a fact. Did I do something wrong?

Names Names!!!

Couple of days back, I was browsing channels and found the movie “Yes Boss” in one of the movie channels. Since there wasn’t anything interesting elsewhere, I continued watching this. My father in law was also there, and he heard the name Rahul. The conversation went like this:

FIL : There are so many people named Rahul
Me : Yup
FIL : This is not fair to Ketu
Me : (Confused) huh??
FIL : see Rahul = Rahu + L
Me : ooooooohhhhhhhh
FIL : But there is nobody named Ketul = Ketu + L
Me : hmm..
FIL : That’s unfair to Ketu
Me : Well, there is the name Ketan, little bit modified but the nearest
FIL : But it doesn’t beat Rahul
Me : Yes Boss

Reasons Reasons

I have read so many posts where we crib about our company. Even though some feel we don’t have the expected monetary benefits. I still have a list of reasons why I wouldn’t crib about it

1. Joy on my parents’ face when I got the job.

2. Liberty to get them any gift, which I have always wanted them to have.

3. I found the love of my life here.

4. Roommates/training mates became friends for life

5. Superb onsite trips.

6. Amazing friends made at onsite, it was because of them that homesickness was not a routine. Infact, when I came home for a vacation, I missed them so much that I wanted to go back.

7. Learnt to be independent. Earlier, I wouldn’t even go and buy a chocolate on my own (unless for gifts), had never paid bills of any sort.

8. Financial independence.

9. Bought my first mobile phone.

There might be lots more, and I agree that any first company which we join gives us joy. The fact that in my case it happens to my company, just gives the company that vantage point that I would be ever grateful.

Namma Bengalooru

Bangalore, or Bengalooru as it’s called now, was always one of the best climatic places in India. It was not too hot, not too cold. We never felt the need of an AC, fans were more than enough.

For the past few years, due to increase in traffic and population, there has been a change, we have started to have hotter days. And when, we started complaining that Bangalore’s climate is changing from pleasant to hot, the weather just surprises us by a chilling morning.

Friday morning was one such day, when even at 8.30 AM, the Hosur Expressway was so foggy and it was so cold. It just felt like B’lore was just getting back to the it’s groove. Well, once in a while such nice mornings just bring back the faith in you, that namma Bengalooru is still the place to be.

To hide or not to hide

There was a discussion on who is the best actor oops!! I meant who is the super star of the country.

One of them wrote “He is transparent in all his activities, people know that he Smokes, drinks.” He refers to the actor and I don’t wan’t to mention the name, since my post is not about the actor.

I just cracked up looking at this. From when did Smoking and drinking become an offensive activity which needs to be hidden?

I don’t smoke or drink, but I remember when I first started working, attended a project party (not company sponsored), this was some birthday party I think. When my team mates ordered drinks and cigarettes, I was quite shocked. Call me naïve, but I had never been to a restaurant which had both veg-nonveg, no bar attached. This was probably my first cultural shock.

As days passed by, these never bothered me, ofcourse I don’t like people smoking in front of me, so I request them and they oblidge. When I went onsite, when any of my teammates ordered for any of the alcoholic drinks, I used to promptly ask for an extra empty glass, and pour my glass of coke into it and cheers with them. My teammate always said “Arre yaar, humesha alcohol ka apmaan karti hai… uss glass mein coke kyon peeti ho”. What can I do if people give these drinks in nice glasses and give coke in a ordinary glass. Anyway, that was not the point.

I completely agree that smoking and drinking are injurious to health, well lot of things are like eating junk food etc etc, but are these something to be hidden. I know, lot of people who smoke or drink hide it from their parents, but lets says the family knows about it. It’s not something you would hide from the general public.

So does hiding or making it public, make any difference to anybody, except for your own health?

Locked Up

New year has just passed by, and I remember the 1st new year party after joining the company.

We were in Mysore, and that was my first new year away from family. We had decided to have a girls night out. We borrowed speakers from friends, got some cake and chips and sodas.

We stayed in a 2BHK, with attached Bathrooms. It was around 10.30 PM, my friend/roomie went to restroom, and since I had to change, I locked the bathroom door from outside, changed and came out of the room. After 10 mins, we were wondering why my friend hadn’t returned. And, I look at my phone, it’s the same friend calling. “why was she calling me, when we are in the same house” was my first thought. I picked up the call and she was yelling “Open the door”. I rushed and opened the bathroom door. After this, all of us were laughing non-stop for 10-15 mins.

We kept teasing her, why she had to take her cellphone in the bathroom. So she said, that saved her, else we would have celebrated new year by locking her up.

Phir Mile Sur

“Mile sur mera tumhara” – This is one song which most of us would have heard while growing up.

Yesterday, on republic day, Zoom TV in collaboration with Times Group aired the “Phir Mile Sur”. I was excited to see the new one. I couldn’t help but compare it to the old one. The video starts off with AR Rahman with a orange Keyboard (instrument) and green Kurta (the flag is suppose), and then the obvious Big B came up with “mile sur” in his voice. He sings one line and then makes it a prose. There was a mixture of musicians and bollywood personalities. In between, a few states were showcased. The song is too long, so I can’t mention every person in the song.

On the whole, this is my review:

Good points:

Good locales, scenic places
Girl education, women employment, showing the children with hearing and talking disabilities were shown
Other sports (esp. no cricket) were given importance. One of my friends said, atleast somebody ignored cricketers.

Not so good points:

Very long
Seemed like bollywood song or a film fraternity song
Overacting by some actors (SRK, Ash)
Voice didn’t match for many of them

Even if I don’t compare with the old one, I don’t see any national integration message here.

The old one made us feel that “Mile sur mera tumhara to sur bane humara” but this one has got too many surs, that the humara feel just doesn’t come.

It’s a nice effort, may be not be very good though.

Flower show

Saturday we had been to the LalBagh Flower show. This was my first time ever. I would say it was worth the visit...

Let the pics do the tallking














There are some more...but may be some other time :)

Alone Alone!!

Alisha, could sleep anytime of the day, the moment her head touched the pillow. One day, her parents had to bring groceries, so they left her at home to watch TV, while they came back in half an hour. They wanted to lock the door from outside, but Alisha insisted that she will take care and lock the door from inside.

Alisha was enjoying the TV show, but slept off in between. Her parents came back home after half an hour and were knocking the door, rang the calling bell, called out for Alisha. But she slept like a kumbhakaran. No noise could even bring a change in her face or sleep. Finally they found a long stick outside, and tried to poke her from the window. Luckily, she woke up and opened the door for her parents. No guesses on how much scoldings she got. It took a long time for her parents to leave the house on her responsibility again.

Hide and Seek

“Hide and Seek”.. Wait!!! I am not talking about the yummy choc chip biscuits, I am talking about the game.



Hide and Seek used to be one of the must play games, esp. during summer vacations when all the cousins would come together and we could hide anywhere in the house. All the cupboards, under the tables, under the cots, bushes would be occupied.

I heard this song in the morning, “Kanna muche kaade goode”. I realized all of a sudden, we used to play hide and seek saying this too..

There were times when we would gang up against the youngest cousin or the innocent (read silent and the usual bakra), and make him/her the seeker. As soon as we knew the bakra is going near one person, rest of them would make sounds. We would add in new rules and change a few existing ones. We were a little cruel that way. Unless, we made one person cry out of frustration, there was no satisfaction.

We used to play this with neighborhood kids too. There was a lot of favoritism when this happened. Irrespective of who was out, the main of the game wasn’t hiding and seeking, it was to trouble the seeker :

Probably, we still play the game these days. In office we keep hiding from the seekers… if you know what I mean ;)

Movie Marathon

I know calling it a movie marathon is an understatement. But, considering the situation of obtaining tickets here in B’lore, I would surely term watching 2 movies in theatres on weekend as a marathon.

Yes, I watched the hyped Avatar (3D) and 3 Idiots.

Do they live up to the hype? I would say, pretty much yes.

Avatar:

If only I could watch Avatar in IMAX, it would have done complete justice to the movie. It was a simple story, told in the most magical way. The story was similar to any bollywood movie (mind u just the story). The whole new world was created. As everybody else said, it was a visual treat. The animals, the plants, the way the Navi’s connected to each other was just out of the world. When they prayed together, you could sense that their ancient gods actually listened to these prayers. I personally loved the floating mountains, magical tree, also their home tree, the hammock beds. Jake was really handsome (earth waala), I liked his Navi avatar too, but considering his long plait and the long tail, I would rather stick to the earthly Jake. He was the Hero, no doubt, esp with his big orange dragon. For a change, it was good to see that we were the Aliens, but the bad part was earthlings went to destroy their beautiful Pandora. Well, each and every point is worth a mention, and I don’t want to leave out anything. So, I better stop here… Go watch it.. if you haven’t…

Watching it in 3D was good, but I wouldn’t say it was outstanding. Either I watched a lot of 3D movies or it was because of not watching it in IMAX. I felt it was long for a English movie (considering no intervals). But, watch it in IMAX, to get a thrilling experience.

3I:

Aal is well… This is the mantra of the movie. Most of them including the baby go by this mantra. From Millimeter to Wangdu, from Chatur to Virus, I loved all the characters. What can I comment about Aamir. He can totally convince the audience, that he is just a college boy. The speech from Chatur had the audience in splits. Everytime Virus had an encounter with Rancho, we would expect something to happen, and something unusual did happen. Ofcourse, Madhavan and Sharman made it look like cake walk. It wasn’t boring in any part. Every small incident, seemed to bring atleast a smile on your face.

All this aside, the beauty of Shimla and Ladak were so beautifully captured. I am almost planning my next vacation there.

Only misfit according to me was Kareena. I don’t know why, but felt that she looked older than Aamir. But as they say Aal is well… Way to go all you IDIOTS.